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There is an unusual rock formation found in the remote Mono Lake in California. It is called “tufa tower” with spires and knobs composed of calcium carbonate. It is formed due to an interaction between the freshwater springs and alkaline lake water. We wanted to see them and got there just before dark. There was just enough light for our hike out to the lake to see them. The moon added a cool feature to our viewing. There was a lot of bird activity around the lake. Because of the water resource issues in California more and more of these towers are viewable. The hike from the parking lot was not long and the time of day we visited made the temperature fantastic. We stayed about a half an hour.

When traveling we often find hidden themes or repeated things in what we see. Finding granite was one of these repeated things. Mt Rushmore is a very large piece of art chiseled into a granite mountain top. This was the first example of granite we found. Mt Rushmore is found south of Rapid City, SD in the Black Hills.

There had been quite a bit of rain on this travel day, and we were also chasing the sun and extending when our evenings started as we went. The consequence of this was that the girls were way past bedtime and exhausted. They did not enjoy this stop as much as we had hoped. We took the loop walk around to the base of the Presidents and saw some of the museum exhibits. The videos on how they did the carving was pretty interesting to the girls. This was a good opportunity to talk about each of the presidents and what they contributed to our country. The stop took about two hours and was a great way to stretch our legs.

We have been waiting for words from Julia and it appears that the wait might be over. Over the last three days we have heard four sentences of two words and one three. The first we heard was her answering a question and requesting to go swimming by saying “me pool”. She was sweet to say it with her hand in the air like a school age girl. Fun stuff.

Emily is quite a talker and seems to have a really good stream of conversation. As she was playing tonight, she was rearranging diapers into a road. She disliked something and exclaimed “Oh, Crickets”. I though it was awesome. I hope to hear that one again.

We made it all the way to April, but the flu came to visit our house. Julia made friends with the flu bug first. We didn’t figure it out soon enough for her to get the special medication. Later in the week Robby also caught it. It made sense because she clung to him for two days straight while she didn’t feel well. After a tough week we thought we were clear, but the next week brought Emily down with it. Luckily her diagnosis came quicker and she was able to get the special medication that makes recovery come so much easier. Honestly it seems like an illness that you just have to survive through, but we were blessed to see God’s hand through the two weeks and how he provided for us. Things just worked out so that we could meet obligations that were required. The biggest blessing was the Mama was able to remain flu-free. We have much to be thankful for!

The girls were so excited on Daddy’s birthday, they asked if Daddy could open his gifts first thing in the morning. Daddy dutifully complied. One of his gifts was a Lego model of Bilbo’s home, Bag End, from The Hobbit. The worst part of opening it in the morning was having to wait until birthday festivities, bedtime activities and little girls were asleep (or at least in bed) before building the set.

The next morning Daddy woke up to find Julia asleep on the living room floor right next to the hobbit hole. She had gotten up sometime in the evening, played with the set and then fell asleep right in place.